NYTimes: Brain Implants

The Brain Implants That Could Change Humanity https://nyti.ms/3bkAe41

An intriguing article on the incipient potential of computers interacting directly with the brain. 

Getting computers to infer what the brain is doing by interpreting EEG is too crude - "One scientist compares it to looking for the surface ripples made by a fish swimming underwater while a storm roils the lake."

Future tech will access brain activity more directly to control things with finesse. 

Itinerant combine harvesters of wheat

Itinerant workers transport their combines across the great plains, and face many struggles.

https://civileats.com/2018/09/24/racing-against-the-harvest-custom-cutters-struggle-to-find-their-place-in-modern-agriculture-2/

Kidnapper Ants

https://youtu.be/sC4MjPKf3jY

Surprisingly good photography telling the macabre tale of ants that can't feed themselves, who instead take another ant species captive and 'brainwash' them into feeding themselves. Patient photographers must've waited long hours for the right moment. 

Feathers and preening

https://youtu.be/Q-8GXk9r0ik

The uropygial gland above the rump secrets an oily substance used to waterproof feathers during preening. 

From each feather's central rachis come barbs, rimmed with barbules, whose barbicels are hooks that grab the adjacent barbules for a watertight impervious connection. 

Ideas for Drone Videos

https://youtu.be/hpGVW3PWJeE

Finally, drone advice that's condensed, well explained and illustrated, and common sense. 

And here's some terrific drone photography by another photographer:

https://youtu.be/FCPdIvXo2rU

Giving it to the man, Uber

8:09 "until we get more rules, we're going to break some!"

In Nairobi, there's a subversive movement to use Uber to hail a ride, then cancel it and offer the driver the full amount without Uber's commission after you get in.

https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGhpc2FtZXJpY2FubGlmZS5vcmcvcG9kY2FzdC54bWw&ep=14&episode=NDQ1NTggYXQgaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGhpc2FtZXJpY2FubGlmZS5vcmc

Qwerty

A fascinating podcast that explores the dilemma of entering thousands of Chinese characters with the qwerty keyboard, and how its solution created a hero. It then ends on the eerie premise that predictive keyboards, when they get fast enough, can start to give you ideas you maybe weren't thinking of as you started to type. And in a Machiavellian subterfuge, influencing what you were about to write (and think.) That is, if there's a hidden agenda behind the words the computer suggests you might want to write, a government can influence your thinking, which the reporter emphatically believes is the case in China. 

https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLndueWMub3JnL3JhZGlvbGFi&ep=14&episode=YzU4MDBkMTQtNzY3NC00ZDYyLWE2YWMtZTIyODI5YzNmNTI5

Bitter is back

A variety of companies making complex, often bitter non-alcoholic drinks. 

Pleasantly Bitter and Thoroughly Grown-Up, No Alcohol Needed https://nyti.ms/3kJRIuI

Veery augury

Veery predicts hurricanes months ahead of time

In the inaugural episode of this new series "Connected" on Netflix (below), he interviews a Delaware researcher who has concluded that Veeries leave their nesting site earlier in years when hurricanes are more severe, and they do this with much better reliability than the best supercomputer modeling. Amazing! He was puzzled what evolutionary advantage there was to leaving the brooding site early, since an early departure lowers breeding success - he ruled out predators, food supply, and then stumbled upon weather patterns that impeded their migration to Brazil. He tested prospectively and was able to predict a bad hurricane season better than long-range weather forecasts.  

Do you think the bird does this by gauging temperature, humidity, weather patterns? What's your hunch as to how the bird can augur* when hurricanes season is bad enough to force them to migrate early? 

https://decider.com/2020/08/03/connected-netflix-latif-nasser/

* I used augur instead of "divined" or "guessed" because augury was a means of predicting the future using birds: An augur was a priest and official in the classical Roman world. His main role was the practice of augury: Interpreting the will of the gods by studying the flight of birds – whether they were flying in groups or alone, what noises they made as they flew, direction of flight, and what kind of birds they were. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augur#History_and_public_role

Vitamin D for COVID-19: a case to answer? - The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(20)30268-0/fulltext

An interesting opinion on the potential benefits of vitamin D prophylaxis to reduce the severity of COVID infection. 

There is a correlation between vitamin D deficiency and severity of COVID infection, and although there is mechanistic reasoning for a beneficial effect through immune modulation and regulation of renin-angiotensin pathway, they acknowledge this could be a spurious association. 

They assert that it would take a huge population-based study to show benefit of prophylaxis, and that administration of vitamin D as treatment after infection is confounded by the co-administration of dexamethasone. 

They conclude by saying that it's probably worth taking vitamin D at least for its bone and muscle effects, even if this association with reduced COVID severity proves to be spurious. 

The pursuit of happiness and the hedonic treadmill.

Getting off the "hedonic treadmill" briefly can enhance your pleasure when you return to whatever you deprived yourself of. 

Buying experiences rather than things fulfills this idea of pleasure and then abstinence, making for an intense enjoyment of something not routinely possible. 

"Hedonic adaptation" occurs when we have unlimited access to enjoyable things, which then no longer give us as much pleasure.

https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDMwOC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbA&ep=14&episode=ZjE0ZDU3NzctODcyMS00YmFhLWJkMmMtYjljNjcxNDU4YzE4

Rimac C2 drivetrain

10:20 At the eleventh hour, and in order to beat the competition, they redesigned the entire rear powertrain again from acratch to get more torque and more RPM.

Making Rose Water

It takes 600 flowers to make a liter of rosewater

Car-Free Streets

https://youtu.be/b2HvW2iGNRk

Despite vocal opposition, multiple cities have seen that removing cars from streets makes streets safer, improves the number of people moving through per hour, and  surprisingly increases local commerce. 

Plastic food

https://youtu.be/ghh_A3p4NPs

All that plastic food in window displays is made by hand!

NYTimes: Indian Billionaires Bet Big on Vaccine Race

Indian Billionaires Bet Big on Head Start in Coronavirus Vaccine Race https://nyti.ms/2XicLKP

Incredibly, one family - one entrepreneur, really - has the resources to stockpile hundreds of millions of doses of a vaccine that may prove unhelpful. 

NYTimes: Aboard the Diamond Princess, a Case Study in Aerosol Transmission

Aboard the Diamond Princess, a Case Study in Aerosol Transmission

"calculated the most likely contributions of each route of transmission. The researchers concluded that the smaller droplets predominated, and accounted for about 60 percent of new infections over all, both at close range, within a few yards of an infectious person, and at greater distances..."

https://nyti.ms/2Pm9K85

Solar E-Bike

https://youtu.be/7EyRqQhuwio

I love this "maker" mentality, where he constantly tweaks things to get better performance. 

I didn't realize that wiring the solar panels in series allows him to use smaller gauge wire. I was also surprised that airflow over the panels cools them and makes them more efficient. 

Here's a clever variation where the solar panel tilts to aim at the sun. 

This second maker has more of his projects at https://solare.bike/

Dribble Like Mad! 🏀

https://youtu.be/pBkFAIUmWu0

I find these animations are a significant leap forward. I don't follow this field closely, so I haven't watched such animations for a while, but this seems very lifelike to me. It's incredible how many calculations are being done about each bone, each bounce of the ball. I like the comparison of how a previous iteration seemed to have the basketball "sticking" to the player's hand, at 3:20